The Role of Web Single SignOn Services as Revenue and ROI Drivers

Internet usage is poised for a shift toward ease-of-use and tighter integration of applications and services. This shift is being driven in part by an aggressive movement toward the development of Web services, led by technology giants such as MicrosoftMicrosoft, IBMIBM, and Sun Microsystems. The goal of Web services is to bring together disparate islands of valuable corporate data and ultimately increase enterprise efficiency. One technology that is already helping businesses improve productivity is the single sign-on (SSO) application, which permits users to access multiple data sources through a single point of entry. Consumer Web giants Microsoft and AOL are focusing on the growth of Web-based SSO applications by partnering with customer-centric organizations such as United Airlines, American Express, and Sony. In the corporate market, enterprise software vendors such as Computer Associates (CA), Novell, and IBM are combating niche Web SSO vendors including Netegrity and RSA that offer tight Web interfacing and secure intranet and portal authentication services. Alles zu IBM auf CIO.de Alles zu Microsoft auf CIO.de

Single sign-on services are quietly proliferating among businesses and on the public Internet as applications that have the capacity to positively affect an organization's bottom line by driving revenues, saving operational costs, and, when appropriately implemented, increasing security. While there are clear operational benefits from enterprise usage of SSO applications, the implications for businesses selling to the consumer market are less apparent due to the nascent nature of consumer SSO applications. Enterprise users can access multiple applications simultaneously through a single user name and password, eliminating the need for multiple personal identifiers. Consumer Web users are provided with a more secure transactional environment as well as synergistic links between organizations and products that may be useful to them, such as airlines linked with rental car agencies.

Though Web SSO services are used by a variety of businesses, they are particularly applicable to enterprise-scale or distributed organizations that have large numbers of applications and end users. While consumer SSO providers hope to become the "cashiers" for Internet transactions, revenue models in the enterprise space are driven by ROIROI. Access control and management functionality are of particular relevance as ROI drivers in the corporate SSO space. Alles zu ROI auf CIO.de